A MALAWIAN ENGAGEMENT/WEDDING

I was both privileged and honoured to receive an invitation to attend a traditional Malawian engagement ceremony, the engagement ceremony of my colleague’s daughter, from the Nursing, Midwives Council.

Traditional African engagements/marriages are always very interesting, many facets each tribe having its own different tradition/cultural rites that has to fulfilled and performed before an engagement/marriage can take place.  This can take any form from the prospective groom presenting at the prospective bride’s home with representatives of his family/friend(s) to seek permission to marry the prospective bride, to performing of the dowry rites.  

At this particular Malawian engagement party (tribe), the tradition is exchanging live chickens as part of the engagement rites. The groom’s family presents a ‘cock’ to the bride’s family and the bride a ‘hen’ to the groom’s family, the chickens is exchanged thus cementing the two families together as one. ‘Our problem is your problem and our problem is your problem’.

After the exchanging of the chickens more dancing, showering of money to the happy couple, followed by the cutting in half and the sharing of a roast chicken, which appeared from nowhere. The chicken is shared between the two immediate families cementing two families together as one.